Are You Listening?

With the rise of smart phones and the constant acceleration of technology, it is now acceptable and "fashionable" to be immersed in your phone while having a conversation with someone in person. Recently at South by Southwest, David Carr hosted a panel called, "I'm So Productive, I Never Get Anything Done," which was about how so many people are constantly on Facebook, Twitter, blog sites, email, and many other media outlets, rather than doing what they care about or what they are getting paid for. Anthony De Rosa, a product manager and programmer at Reuters, said that technology is causing a decrease in human courtesy and respect. The rest of the audience appeared to agree with De Rosa. It seems that when out with friends or colleges, there is a constant battle between a real face-to-face connection and the conncections in the palm of your hand. Even when a group of people are together, they are in their own world, separately on their own devices. So, how do we bring back face-to-face conversation?

Cellphone Radiation May Alter Your Brain

Is your cell phone hurting you? Last month a study was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association stating that cell phone use could be responsible for altering brain activity. The change that takes place in the brain, caused by the cell phone, is an increase in glucose metabolism. This effect can happen after using your cellular phone for less than an hour. The study was unsure whether this change had any definite negative effects on our health. Further studies are being done to reach more results, however, in the meantime. The best way to avoid these effects on brain activity are to keep your cell phone a distance away from your ear and/or head. Using the speakerphone feature or using a hands-free ear piece is much better and does not cause the same effects. Even holding your cellphone away from you're ear a little bit and turning the volume up makes a difference.

Twitter and Poetry

This Monday, March 21st, the fifth anniversary of the first tweet. The trend has caught on tremendously since then and now, people are using tweets as a creative outlet, rather than updating their every move or the latest celebrity gossip. With one message being limited to 140 characters, many are using it as a challenge. Writers, especially, have been having fun with this feature. One in particular is John Wray, who tweets as a character named Citizen, and a trend of posting a haiku, or "twaiku" has been a popular movement. Recently,Week in Review asked four poets were asked to write a poem in the 140 character bracket of the twitter message including the hashtag, #poetweet.

Take A Vacation From Your Smart Phone

Reboot, a Jewish organization, has created a new app for smartphones that allows you to "check out" for a while. With the new app, called Sabbath Manifesto, Reboot encourages a one-day break from technology to remember our values and our family and friends that are around us. They plan to have a "National Day of Unplugging" on March 4th, 2011. Currently, the app is available for Android and Blackberry phones, and Reboot is awaiting approval for iPhone. After you download Sabbath Manifesto, you can send out a text and message to your Facebook and Twitter, notifying others that you are temporarily unavailable. While the group realizes the irony of "unplugging" by using an app, but the ability to send out a message to all your followers that you will be unavailable may encourage the "unplugging" trend. The group hopes this second annual day off from technology will catch on. While the group is not against technology, but they believe a break is needed to focus on the environment around and real interaction with real people.

Closing the Gap Between Social Media and TV

An article in the New York Times points out that TV viewers are often simultaneously connected to a social media outlet. While watching a show, viewers are discussing it on Twitter and Facebook. The exposure of the show on the internet increases ratings for show that are already popular, and can also bring attention to smaller shows. This interaction during the television shows gives viewers the effect that they are all there, in the same room, watching the show together. This may even make people want to watch the show again next time. Networks are also enjoying the new trend because they can tell if a show is a hit or not by how much it is mentioned on the social network sites, specifically Twitter.

With the Academy Awards approaching and this information about consumers' "two-screen behavior," the television network has developed a corresponding website for the award show. The website will feature live streaming video of the show's behind the scene footage. Viewers can watch Oscar winners receive their award on stage on the television network, then follow them backstage on the live feed on the website.   

Autobiography

Hi! My name is Jerian. I am a senior at St. John's University and I will be graduating in May. I have a major in advertising and a minor in public relations. I'm not sure what I want to do once I graduate, but eventually, I would like to be involved in event planning and the fashion/beauty industry. I am Vice President of the fashion club on campus and I have been part of the executive board for the past four years. It's something I really enjoy being a part of and I am looking forward to our 5th Annual Fashion Show. When I am not at school or involved in extracurricular activities, I like to spend time with my friends and family. I also like shopping, fashion, music, traveling, doing new things and meeting new people, and just having fun.

Media News Update, 2/14: Web-Based E-mail Losing Popularity

Studies have shown that the number of people using web-based e-mail addresses has declined between 2009 and 2010. It is recorded that the amount has decreased 5.9 percent and it is believed that the cause of this decrease is because of the rise in e-mail on mobile devices. It has become more convenient for people to check their e-mail and communicate through e-mail directly from their mobile device, rather than logging onto a web-site linking to an e-mail account. The amount of people using their mobile e-mail has increased by 40 percent. In fact, young internet users are beginning to dismiss e-mail altogether. There has been a 24 percent decrease of young internet users, between the ages of 12 and 17, using e-mail. This trend is due to the various social media networks available to them, making e-mail an unecessary media outlet for them.